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Talk:Astrogation plotter
Astrogation plotter The reference that this term was used it is as follows: "We've managed to find a replacement for the Transporter Chief, but we still need an Astrogation Plotter, a Chief Engineer, medical support personnel." Some of the blanks can be filled in by who was given new positions aboard the ship, including B'Elanna Torres as chief engineer. Since we know Stadi was killed and Tom Paris functioned as her replacement, as well as the fact that "astrogation" is (in sci-fi references) an alternate term for "navigation", it would seem the logical conclusion would be to merge the astrogation plotter with navigator, as that would seem to certainly define the role performed by said position. Addendum #1: Well, perhaps this has gotten more complicated that I originally stated as "flight controller" may actually be the accurate term...despite the fact that this term would seem to apply to both. Addendum #2: Okay, so the deeper I dig, the more facts of interest I've revealed. For some reason, we seem to make a distinction between navigator/flight control officer, which combining flight controller and conn, when the terminology has not been as established as being universally interchangeable. Navigator seems to drop off at TNG and replaced with flight controller, however, the term "navigator" continued to be used on occasion in (Ro Laren) (Hajar), (Amat'igan), and (Tuvok). So with that said, perhaps we should merge everything (except helmsman) into "navigator" and make the "conn" article a bit more distinctive, in terms of defining it as being the one "in charge of the bridge". --Alan 18:39, 7 June 2008 (UTC) :I agree that astrogation plotter could probably be merged to "flight controller". However, I think the flight controller article and the navigator article should stay separate. The flight controller (or conn) is a combination of the duties of the helmsman and the navigator, as seen on TOS. It thus wouldn't seem right (at least to me) to merge flight controller into navigator and leave helmsman by itself. If anything, helmsman and navigator should probably be merged into flight controller... but I would be somewhat against that since they were separate entities during the 23rd century. --From Andoria with Love 04:45, 11 June 2008 (UTC) RIKER: "Navigators on this ship have been doing flight handling assessments the same way for years, Ensign." --Alan 03:06, 12 June 2008 (UTC) :Like I said, in the 24th century, navigation and piloting (helm) duties were merged into the conn. So, yeah, they were navigators... they were also helmsmen. How many times was the conn/"navigator" also referred to as "helm" on TNG & VOY? Also, I believe Riker was referring specifically to navigation controls in that quote, yes? Anyway, my point is, if we merge "flight controller" into navigator, then that will leave us with one article discussing navigation in the 23rd century and navigation as part of flight controls in the 24th century, and a second article only discussing helm control in the 23rd century despite the fact helm control was part of the flight controller function in the 24th century. Am I making sense? --From Andoria with Love 05:11, 12 June 2008 (UTC) ::Astrogation plotter should be kept separate from conn/flight control. The quote at the top of this section from Janeway says they "still need an astrogation plotter", an episode or two after Paris was officially assigned to the conn in replacement of Stadi. They can't still need one if it's the same position Paris already has. I would take AP as being a role similar to what Seven of Nine would eventually fill; something involving stellar cartography/astrometrics and charting the course home, but not actually flying the ship. This is true. At the end of "Caretaker", Janeway handed out a few key positions, notably to Chakotay and Paris. The requirement for an astrogation plotter came in the next episode. --Alan (talk) 18:02, January 8, 2020 (UTC)